Islamic State and Democracy in the North African Political Islam: Fundamental Concepts of an Uncertain Debate

Abstract

This article analyzes the political theory of the “islamic state” (al-dawla al-islāmiyya) from both chronological and conceptual point of view, as it is stated within political theories of the most representative islamist thinkers in North Africa. This analysis tries to get the islamist stances on democracy (rejection/acceptation) straight, as ‘a concept and political system’ within the Islamic state, as it is set out by islamist theories in different historical and socio-political contexts, from post-independent Egypt to contemporary Maghreb.